Jackdaw closeup

10 times larger than most other birds in my garden. Always living in pairs, for life.

comments (5)

Ludo Sak

Lion

I never noticed the eyes. They are nice, almost friendly! That's a decent zoom, Ferdy, what lens is it? Posted 13 years ago, modified 13 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks Ludo. It's a Sigma 150-500mm. I did crop this photo but this lens is my standard gear for getting close. I would love to have a 500mm that is more light sensitive but they're incredibly expensive. Posted 13 years ago
2. 1. Ludo Sak
    
    Lion
    
    The same for Canon, a Canon 200mm L zoom is within budget (non IS, or could be), anything above that has an explosion in currency. What is your opinion on the Sigma lens you use? The stories on Sigma vary a bit sometimes.
    I did not know they mated for life, beautiful that is, Posted 13 years ago, modified 13 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      I find the Sigma to be a relatively good lens, but that's because I came from another set, a Sony Alpha with a 300mm Minolta lens of the analog age. Compared to that this Sigma is wonderful.
      
      Still, I'm not perfectly happy. I often shoot it from hand. The only way to do that with a 500mm focal length is to have a minimum shutter speed of 1/500s. And that's tough with a lens that is slow (high F). Unless the light is exceptionally good, it usually means a high ISO. The D7000 handles a high ISO quite well, and you won't notice it much in web format, but when having a closer look at a large format, there's noise all over the place.
      
      Still, noise is better than unsharpness. By the way, the D7000 has quite a cool setting. I can program a minimum shutter speed. So I may set it at 1/500s and the camera will calculate automatically how high the ISO should be (up to a ceiling which you can also define).
      
      All in all, the Sigma lens has a great pice/quality balance. I'd like to step up, but even the first move upwards means 7 times the cost of this lens. Posted 13 years ago
    2. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      By the way, what's also interesting about Jackdaws is their intelligence in communication. As they pair for life, they develop exclusive communication patterns that only apply to their relationship. You may know this from human relationships, where you're very close to someone. You can communicate by just a look, an inside joke, things that only have meaning within your shared context, but not outside of it. Posted 13 years ago

The Western Jackdaw

The Western Jackdaw, sometimes known as the Eurasian Jackdaw, European Jackdaw or simply Jackdaw, is a passerine bird in the crow family. Found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa, it is mostly resident, although northern and eastern populations migrate south in winter.

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Similar species: Perching Birds

Species identified by Ferdy Christant

By Ferdy Christant

Uploaded Mar 9, 2012. Captured Mar 9, 2012 16:12.

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NIKON D7000
f/6.3
1/500s
ISO2000
500mm